TO THE GLADES IN THE "IRENE"
They found the _Irene_ waiting for them near the mouth of the river,
with Ned impatient to be off to catch the inflowing-tide from the
mouth of Harney's River, which was about two miles down the coast.
It was still daylight when they crossed the bar and passed the
little key inside the mouth of the river, but they sailed up the
stream by the light of the stars, which gave mystic beauty to the
smooth water and the shadowy outlines of the tropical forest that
bordered the banks of the river. Captain Hull anchored the _Irene_
for the night in Tussock Bay, at the head of the lower division of
Harney's River, because, as he said, he needed all the daylight he
could get when he tackled the crooked courses between Tussock Bay
and the Everglades.
When the anchor was hoisted in the morning, Dick was at the wheel,
which he held on to when the captain came up to relieve him. The
captain stood by as the boy steered across the bay, and wondered at
the chance that kept him for miles on exactly the right course. As
the boat was passing Tussock Key, Dick headed up to the northeast.
"Too far north," said the captain. "Course is east-southeast."
"No talking to the man at the wheel," said Dick, and Captain Hull
laughed and waited for the trouble that was coming. But no trouble
came, and the _Irene_ twisted in and out, always in plenty of water,
for a mile and a half of crooked creek, until it floated in a wider
stream, the banks of which were covered with long prairie grass,
when Dick handed over the wheel to the captain, saying:
"Guess you know the rest of the way, don't you, Captain? If you get
in any trouble call on me."
"That was one on me," said Captain Hull as he took the wheel. "I
never came that way before. Wonder who taught you piloting? Mighty
few pilots can find their way up this river."
"I came that way," said Dick nonchalantly, "because the water is
deeper and there is less grass. The other river is pretty shallow
and gets badly choked up at this season."
"That's so," replied the captain, "but I'd like to know who told
you."
It took the rest of the day to reach the Everglades. There were
narrow streams so crooked that the _Irene_ had to be poled around
the sharp corners, broad, shallow rivers, so choked with eel and
manatee-grass that every five minutes one of the boys went overboard
to clear the clogged propeller, and twisting creeks, through which
the water of the Everglades poured so swiftly, that to make headway
and avoid snags kept the captain busy at the wheel and the boys
fending off from the banks with oars. Sometimes for miles the
channel was clear; and while the captain stood at the wheel the rest
of the exploring family sat upon the cabin roof and chattered like
children about the turtle and terrapin heads that dotted the
surface, the leaping young tarpon, grave old alligators, shy otters,
and birds that flew from the trees or soared overhead.
The sensitive Tom resented Dick's neglect, and was seen sitting on
the after end of the cabin, in front of the wheel, making friends
with the captain. Every few minutes Tom put out a paw and rested it
on the captain's hand as it rolled the wheel. Then Tom would look up
in his face, and finally rubbed his cheek on the captain's hand, and
after that became his shadow. That night Tom abandoned his sleeping
place beside Dick's bunk and turned in with the captain. Dick was a
little annoyed at first, but his conscience told him that he had
neglected Tom, and had himself to blame.
When the anchor was dropped, the _Irene_ rested in a solid mass of
lily pads, with her bowsprit extending over the border of the
Everglades, which stretched out eastward, a great, grassy,
overflowed meadow, dotted with keys, to the horizon. A slough of
clear water, deep enough to float the little power-boat, zigzagged
out into the Glades, and the captain, with Mr. Barstow, Molly and
Dick in the craft, followed it for more than a mile. There was
water enough over the light grass of the Glades to float the skiff,
which Ned poled through a carpet of white pond-lilies, that here and
there covered the surface. Many little grassy mounds showed where an
alligator had his cave. From one of them an alligator slid out and
started across the Glades at full speed. Ned was soon on his trail,
poling like mad. He was nearly up to the reptile when it swung
around and darted away at right angles to its former course, gaining
many yards on its pursuer, for the grass prevented the quick turning
of the skiff. Time after time the reptile repeated this dodge, time
after time the boy was near enough to have touched the alligator
with a pole, but always he dodged, until Ned was too exhausted to
follow the creature any farther.
"Oh, I wish you could have caught it," said Molly when Ned returned.
"We'll get one to-morrow sure," said Dick, while Ned's only comment
was:
"Don't you get Dick to try fool things, sis."
"Captain," said Dick that evening, "I want an alligator, and if you
will help Ned pole in the skiff in the morning until we are near
enough to one, I'll either put a rope over his head or go overboard
and grab him."
"Don't try that on these 'gators; but I'll rig up a harpoon for you,
and if you can hit one with that there won't be any trouble in
getting him."
"I don't want to kill the thing with a harpoon."
"I'll fix that. I'll stop down the harpoon so you can't drive it
more than an inch beyond the hide, and the 'gator will never know
he's hurt. He'll think a fly lit on him."
In the morning, as they were about to start on the 'gator chase, Ned
said to his father:
"This is our third day and our last chance, so we have got to keep
busy."
"Not quite," replied Mr. Barstow. "You and Dick have done so well
that you can stay in command until I have to call you down."
"Where do I come in?" said Molly. "Haven't I got something to say
about things?"
"Looks as if you were having too much to say now. You mustn't try to
influence the officers of this ship or lure them away from their
duties."
The little face that Molly made at her father wasn't quite
respectful, but Mr. Barstow only laughed at it.
On this day of the 'gator hunt, Molly took the wheel and her father
ran the engine of the motor-boat, while Ned and the captain poled
the skiff and Dick stood in the bow with the harpoon pole. They soon
started a nine-foot alligator out of his cave, and after a chase of
ten minutes and a few sudden turns were so near the reptile that
Dick fixed his harpoon to the end of the pole and stood ready. Twice
he threw and missed, and each time many yards were lost while the
pole was being recovered. Dick was so mortified at missing that he
offered the harpoon to the captain, who refused it, saying:
"You threw all right and almost got him last throw. You'll fetch him
next time."
The captain's prophecy was fulfilled and at the next throw the
harpoon pierced the soft hide of the hind leg of the reptile. From
the beginning of the chase the alligator had been making for the
river and was within a hundred yards of it when struck. They headed
it off from the river and Dick dragged on the line while the others
poled until the skiff was beside the 'gator. A heavy blow on the bow
of the boat from the tail of the reptile and the big open jaws with
their rows of great gleaming teeth that swung before Dick's face
made him drop the line and fall backward into the skiff, while the
alligator started off in a new direction. On the next approach the
creature turned on the skiff again and though the captain fended it
off with an oar the reptile had the best of the battle. Several
times Dick brought the skiff near the alligator and tried to lasso
it with the painter of the boat, but the reptile was too wary for
him. The captain suggested running the reptile into the river,
saying it would be easier to take it aboard from the deeper water.
As soon as they gave the brute a chance it plunged into the river
and towed the skiff two hundred yards down the stream, then turning
and rising to the surface the alligator came with open mouth at
Dick, who sprang from his place in the bow and, seizing the
painter, the boy soon had a rope around the head of the brute and
its jaws tied. They tried towing the alligator up the river to the
_Irene_, but it is easier to drag an anchor than an alligator. Then
as Dick was winded the captain and Ned finally hauled it aboard the
skiff, where for a time it amused itself by trying to smash the
skiff or knock somebody overboard with its tail. It became perfectly
quiet before the _Irene_ was reached, when the captain dragged on
the rope which bound its jaws while Ned boosted with his arms around
the tail of the brute. But the alligator was playing 'possum and had
Ned just where it wanted him and, with a swing of its powerful tail,
lifted the boy in the air and neatly tossed him overboard. It was
fortunate for Ned that he was holding the alligator so tightly that
it was more of a push than a blow that he received. As it was, the
breath was so completely knocked out of him that for an instant he
could not swim and was drifting with the current, feebly paddling
with his hands, just enough to keep afloat, when he felt Dick's
supporting hand and heard a voice in his ear:
"Don't say you're hurt, Neddy."
"No--no--not a--bit. Nothing but--the talk--knocked out of me. Gee!
Wouldn't he make a fine spanking machine?"
Both of the boys were glad when the captain came for them with the
skiff and they were saved a hard swim against the current.
"Where is our alligator?" said Ned to the captain. "Hope you didn't
turn him loose."
"Nope. He's all right. He slipped back into the water when you went
in swimming, and of course I knew you wanted him looked after first,
so I gave his line a turn round the big cleat. When I left he was
trying to pull it out."
When the boys were back on the _Irene_, Molly clung to her brother's
hand, hardly able to speak, while Mr. Barstow said to his son:
"Is that the sort of thing you boys have been doing in your odd
hours when you were not squabbling with panthers or mixing up with
tarpon? I am afraid you need a traveling guardian to look after
you."
A hundred feet was added to the rope that held the alligator and he
was left to pasture in the water until the _Irene_ was ready to
sail, when he was hauled aboard the skiff and lashed there. While he
was being tied he was perfectly tame and peaceful, but, though he
looked as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, no one trusted him
and even the captain fought shy of his tail.
For two miles from the Glades the river was broad and the
navigation, excepting for many bunches of moss and manatee grass,
was easy. Then came half a mile of a twisting narrow creek, in
places not twice the width of the _Irene_, through which poured
swiftly the whole volume of the big river. At the head of this
creek the captain came to anchor.
"We won't get through this creek without a lot of trouble. The
current will throw us against the bank a dozen times and we haven't
speed to prevent it and couldn't turn the corners if we had. The
launch must go ahead and keep the bow of the big boat out of the
bushes if it can. Then we can't be bothered with the skiff or the
'gator. We'd likely lose both. Somebody must take the launch and tow
the skiff through and then come back, if he can get back, and help
the big boat through. I hate to do it, but we can't tow the skiff
and, of course, it would be torn off of the davits in two minutes.
We are going to scrape the sides and perhaps tear out half the
rigging of the _Irene_, anyhow. Now who volunteers to tow the skiff
through the creek? I can't go because the launch may not be able to
buck the current and get back and I must stand by the big boat."
"I volunteer," said Molly, "if you can get anybody to go as
engineer."
Every one laughed at this, excepting Molly, who blushed a little,
and Dick pulled the power boat up beside the _Irene_ as if he were
afraid that somebody would change her mind if there was any delay.
"Can she do it and is it quite safe?" asked Mr. Barstow.
"Do it as well as anybody. They may swamp the skiff or get caught in
a corner, but they can get out on the bank without anything worse
than a ducking."
As the power boat started, with Molly at the wheel, Dick standing by
the motor and the skiff hauled close under the stern, the captain
called out to Dick:
"Full speed. It's your only chance to get through. Don't bother with
the skiff, but keep an oar handy to fend off from the bank." The
speed of the boat was doubled by the current and Dick's heart was in
his mouth as the banks flew past and some log-guarded point
threatened to smash the bow of the boat. But Molly was quick to see
the coming peril and the wheel rolled swiftly to starboard or port,
always in time to avert it. There were double turns which the boat
could never have made but for the rush of the current which often
swept them aside from a stump or log that it seemed impossible to
avoid. It was a thrilling experience to both pilot and engineer, and
when the broad, placid river opened before them and the perilous
trip was past, the girl turned a flushed and beaming face toward her
companion and said:
"Wasn't it just lovely?"
And the boy replied with enthusiasm:
"It was glorious!"
Dick fastened the skiff to a tree on the bank, gave a look at the
lashing of the alligator and the return through the creek began.
There was nothing exciting about this trip. As the craft was working
against the current, the flow of the water balanced the power of
the engine, and log stumps and points on the bank were passed
slowly, inch by inch. Often there was no progress and then the boat
was steered close beside the bank and Dick pushed with his oar
against the trees until less swift water was found. The run down the
creek was made in three minutes. The return 'took half as many
hours. On the _Irene_ all were anxious but the captain and Tom. At
the end of an hour Ned was for starting down the creek with the big
boat, but Captain Hull said:
"No. It may take them three hours. Give them two at least. If we
start now we'll make sure of a smash-up."
In another minute the motor of the launch could be heard, although
it was half an hour more before the wanderers were welcomed aboard
the _Irene_ and their story told.
"It's our turn for trouble now," said the captain, "and we're likely
to get it, good and plenty."
"Want me to tow?" said Dick.
"Sure," replied the captain.
"Me, too?" inquired Molly.
"No," replied the captain, rather sharply. "It isn't piloting this
time. You can't steer the launch much while it's fast to the big
boat. Best you can do is to fend off and then you're likely to get
caught, and when you do get caught and fifteen tons comes down on
you at ten miles an hour, somebody has got to be spry."
"Is there much danger to whoever goes in the little boat?" asked
Mr. Barstow.
"Some, not much. It's the big boat that is likely to get caught and
if the launch did get stuck and we couldn't sheer off it would only
mean a quick jump and a little swim and--a busted launch."
The _Irene_ started down the creek with her engine at half speed,
the captain at the wheel and Dick standing in the bow of the motor
boat with an oar at hand. Molly stood in the companionway at the
captain's request because he feared her being swept overboard by
overhanging branches. Mr. Barstow and Ned were stationed near the
bow with long poles for fending off from the banks when necessary.
The first trouble came from a wooded point on the starboard side,
but Dick swung the power boat to port while Ned nearly went
overboard as he threw his weight on the pole with which he was
fending. The bow cleared the point, though the bowsprit swept the
bushes and a low-growing branch tore out the screens on the
starboard side. Before the point was passed Dick had the launch on
the starboard side, working to turn the _Irene_ before she should
strike the opposite bank. The efforts of all hands failed to make
the turn in time and a stump by the bank caught in the jib-stay of
the boat and held her fast. As the stern of the _Irene_ swung on the
point she had nearly passed, she lay broad-side to the current,
subject to all its power.
"We're in for it now, if that jib-stay don't part pretty sudden,"
said the captain.
And before the words were out of his mouth the eye-bolt that held
the stay broke short off and the _Irene's_ bow swung down the
stream. The boat was not caught badly again, although her fore
rigging on the port side was carried away and her sides somewhat
scarred. The only accident that threatened was prevented by a
precaution which Dick had taken. He had fastened his tow line to the
stern of the launch with a knot that could be slipped and led the
end of the line forward to where he stood by the wheel. It happened
that when nearly through the creek it became needful to drag the bow
of the _Irene_ far to port. Dick did this, but found himself in a
pocket from which he could not escape and in position to be dragged
stern first under the bow of the big boat. A quick jerk on the
towing line, and the launch was safe behind the _Irene_. There was
no more trouble for the big boat, which a minute later was headed
down the broad but shallow river, at half speed, while Dick picked
up the skiff with its alligator passenger who slowly opened one eye
when spoken to. In a few minutes the _Irene_ was traveling at full
speed toward Tussock Bay while her joyful passengers sat on the
cabin roof and talked of perils which had passed.
[Illustration: "SLOWLY LIFTING HIS HUGE HEAD OVER THE SIDE OF THE
SKIFF"]
From Tussock Bay to the coast, the _Irene_ sailed by way of a branch
of Shark River. The deep water of this river near the Gulf of Mexico
was roughened by a high wind and the rising and falling of the
skiff seemed to excite the alligator which for hours had been as
quiet as if he were asleep or dead. Slowly lifting his huge head
over the side of the skiff he gave a lurch which strained the rope
that held him and enough of the weight of the reptile was on the
side of the skiff to capsize it. The captain, who first heard the
struggle and saw the upset of the skiff, shouted to Ned, who was
below oiling the engine, to shut off the power. Before the _Irene_
lost her headway Ned was in the river with the alligator, resting on
the bottom of the skiff which he rolled from over the reptile to
save it from drowning. Instantly the freed jaws of the alligator
opened wide in his face and the boy threw himself backward in the
water and swam swiftly away from his dangerous companion. The rope
had slipped from the head of the reptile, which now seized the
gunwale of the boat and thrashed about until he had freed himself
from the rope which bound him, after which he quickly disappeared.
Half an hour later Ned was pouring his grievances into the ear of
his chum, who was resting in his bunk from the fatigue of the
morning.
"Don't you think, Dick, it was bad enough to be scared to death by a
whopping old alligator that I thought was going to bite me in two,
without being scolded by everybody on board for recklessness? First
there was Dad, and he uses pretty powerful language when he gets
real earnest, then Captain Hull gave it to me like a Dutch uncle,
and even Molly lectured me and squeezed out a few tears. I told Dad
it wasn't half as bad as your jumping in the way of that panther,
but he said that was altogether a different thing and had some sense
in it."